I couldn’t sleep tonight, so I decided to finish watching “Street Foods” on Netflix. It’s a documentary series that is about success stories of Asian people whose lives have been changed by selling traditional foods from small stalls or even just on sidewalks and streets. Each episode features a different Asian country and, just now, I watched an episode that featured Cebu, Philippines. I’ve been there, so it got my attention.
What intrigued me was the story of this elderly fisherman that wanted to help his small fishing community. They were all extremely poor because the kinds of fish that sold well were too few for the number of people fishing. So, this man looked for what was plentiful; it was sea eels. (Now stay with me.) So, he started experimenting to create a recipe for eel soup that people would like. He found it!
Now, I have to admit that, to me, seeing eel soup and watching people eat it was sickening. Nevertheless, he shared it with locals in his community, and they loved it so much they talked him into opening a small restaurant, which he built himself. As word spread about his eel soup, his little restaurant shack on the beach became so popular that the government poured a concrete road through the town, ending it at his shack.
As more people came to town more shops opened, more people bought fresh seafood, the fishermen began to prosper, and the quality of life improved for the whole community. His kids now run the business while he enjoys his twenty-three grandkids.
This Filipino fisherman is an excellent example for Christians. Just look at Psalms 34:8: “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!”
Many people today are disgusted when they look at Christianity. TV preachers, mega-churches, promises of wealth, preachers dressing in three-piece suits, looking like bankers and running their local churches like businesses.
All of these issues and more have made Christianity repugnant to irreligious people and people from other religions. For them, Christianity is distasteful because of what they’ve seen; they have never tasted God.
Having never been in contact with a Christian that has living water pouring out of them (John 7:38), people that have rejected the Church without ever having connected with God. However, when people get a “taste” of God, not only will many come back for more, but they will bring others with them.
It is us, God’s children, that He uses to provide that taste of Him to others. Life begets life. If we have the life of Jesus within us, people will see a difference, they will feel God’s power, and they will want God in them. We already are commissioned for this work (Mark 16:15), so there’s no need to ask God about it, just go; take the living water of God to the world.
Photo by Nikko Balanial on Unsplash